Great Big Sea n Me

I was at Milwaukee Irish Fest in 1999 (or 2000) when I stumbled across Great Big Sea playing on a stage.  They immediately grabbed my attention and I was blown away by their music.  They played 3 times that weekend and by the time the festival was over I was hooked.  Their mix of pop, rock and traditional is well done and like a fine wine or cheese after 20 years in existence they still kick a$$ live and in person.  The joy of living in Chicagoland was that I would have the opportunity to watch them perform many times before we moved in 2001. 

They made my 30th birthday extremely special.  They played a small club somewhere around Wrigley Field on my birthday and after a fantastic show we were hanging out in the bar and Alan heard it was my birthday. Even though he didn't know me, he rushed over to where I was standing, gave me a big hug and a kiss and wished me a happy happy happy birthday.  Darrell also came over and wished me a happy birthday as well.  I remember he and I talked hockey for a bit before he disappeared from the bar.  Bob and Sean were no where to be found, but I would later learn that was the norm for them.  We hung out at the bar with a small group of people, maybe 4-5 others and Alan.  Alan told me about his grandfather and what a character he was.  They sing a song called Lukey's Boat and now whenever I hear it I can hear Alan imitating his Grandfather the day he asked Alan if his girlfriend at the time was "good for planching"  which he explained was significant from when the old wooden boats would be repaired (planched) with wooden pegs, new boards and cracks filled with putty.  To planch takes on a whole new meaning when you're talking to an Old Salt, if you get my drift.  We said our goodbyes at some point later in the evening and said we'd see him the next night in Milwaukee.

The next night we traveled north to another small bar and did it all again. We hung out some more, but didn't stay nearly as long since we had further to travel back home that night.  We did see their van and trailer parked at the hotel they were staying at so I left them a note on the windshield thanking them for a fantastic weekend.

Every few years I go on the road to catch some shows since the closest they have played was once in las vegas many, many years ago.  I hit 3 nights in a row in California: SLO, Santa Barbara and LA, followed by a show in Salt Lake City a week later. Russell Crowe joined them on stage for the encore in Los Angeles..which was quite amazing.

I hit a dry spell seeing them live for a few years until almost a month ago when we flew to Boulder CO for 2 nights of GBS bliss.  Despite blizzard conditions at time, it was the most perfect weekend.  We got into town a couple hours before the show began so after checking into the hotel we foraged for some food before going to the venue.  Our seats were in the back of the theater, but that didn't stop us from having a great time.  It was like no time had passed and they did 2 full sets of music with a intermission in between.  Prior to the concert they had asked for pictures of people who would be attending the show to show in a slideshow during the song "Good People". I emailed the one of paul and I sitting by the "danger landmine" sign in Israel.  It was awesome to see us pop up on the jumbotron behind the band. 

The next night was even better than the first night.  We had backstage passes to meet the boys and at 7:30 Andy their tour manager met us by the sound booth and brought us back.  I had purposed picked a hockey jersey to wear that night because I knew that would at least help with conversation if I got tongue-tied. I met Bob first and he shook my hand and said hi, we talked about the hockey jersey and then Sean introduced himself to me and then finally Alan.  I really wanted to babble on about the last time I met him and lukey's boat but I shoved it all back and talked about the jersey.  They signed some stuff for us and Alan again commented to paul what an "awesome jersey" I was wearing. He asked if we were from Alaska (I was wearing an Alaska Aces jersey) and I said no, we were "Utards" from the desert of Utah and I got another chuckle out of Alan.  I asked Sean if he had gone adventuring that day (the day before he told a story about climbing the flat iron trail only to find a beware of mountain lions sign at the top....which of course would have been a lot more informative at the bottom of the trail.) He shook his head back and forth and said no no no no no... I learned my lesson yesterday and stayed at the hotel all day today...we got pictures taken and then headed back to our seats in the front row up against the stage where I was close enough to count Alan's nose hairs all evening long.  It was one of the best nights ever.

I love Great Big Sea's music.  It fits all moods and I can never stay cranky for long after I put on of their CDs on..It's great traveling music, great housecleaning music, great background music and great everything music.